Healing is what happens when Pastoral Practitioners minister, enabling people to receive restoration to health of body and mind through God's great love and mercy. This restoration of health is part of what is meant by the "abundant life" which the Lord promised.

Mon Mar 28, 2005

"This study suggests that acupuncture can be an excellent complement to
other medical treatments, especially for those treating the cardiac
system," said Dr. John Longhurst of the University of California, Irvine,
who led the study.

"The Western world is waiting for a clear scientific basis for using
acupuncture, and we hope that this research ultimately will lead to the
integration of ancient healing practices into modern medical treatment."

Writing in the March issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology, Longhurst
and colleagues said they inserted acupuncture needles at specific points on the
front legs of rats with artificially elevated blood pressure rates.

This is equivalent to the inside of the forearms, slightly above the wrists
in people.

Acupuncture alone had no effect on blood pressure in the rats, Longhurst's
team found. But adding electrical stimulation at low frequencies lowered the
blood pressure, although it did not bring it to normal.

The effects lasted for up to two hours.

"This type of electroacupuncture is only effective on elevated blood
pressure levels, such as those present in hypertension, and the treatment has no
impact on standing blood pressure rates," said Longhurst, a cardiologist .

"Our goal is to help establish a standard of acupuncture treatment that
can benefit everyone who has hypertension and other cardiac ailments."

His team is now testing the technique on people.

High blood pressure is a major cause of heart disease, and can lead to heart
failure, stroke, kidney failure and other conditions.